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cjamargo's review against another edition
4.5
I did not particularly want to see Maman again before her death; but I could not bear the idea that she would not see me again. Why attribute such importance to a moment since there would be no memory? There would not be any atonement either. For myself I understood, to the innermost fibre of my being, that the absolute could be enclosed within the last moments of a dying person.
maxwellanthony's review against another edition
4.0
A poignant and brutal memoir touching on the complex relationship between Simone, her mother, and death.
matt_robson17's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
4.75
A tremendously honest and raw account of dying, illness, age, and parent-child relationships. Beauvoir captures, in all its pain and brutality, the reality of 'a very easy death'; as well as the existential upending of the world of those left behind.
simong_ph's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
5.0
A beautiful written account of the authors own mothers death.
ghostofyesterday's review against another edition
5.0
“When someone you love dies you pay for the sin of outliving her with a thousand piercing regrets. Her death brings to light her unique quality; she grows as vast as the world that her absence annihilates for her and whose whole existence was caused by her being there; you feel that she should have had more room in your life - all the room, if need be. You snatch yourself away from this wildness: she was only one among many...”
A remarkable and heartbreaking work in which Simone de Beauvoir deals candidly and frankly with the death of her mother. After watching several family members fade away over the last couple of years, de Beauvoir’s vivid account was not an easy read but it resonated deeply with me and provided some much-needed consolation.
A remarkable and heartbreaking work in which Simone de Beauvoir deals candidly and frankly with the death of her mother. After watching several family members fade away over the last couple of years, de Beauvoir’s vivid account was not an easy read but it resonated deeply with me and provided some much-needed consolation.
drajhy's review against another edition
5.0
A more personal look into SdB, strength even in vulnerability. Her observations, both internal and external, clearly laid out as she recounts her last days with her dying mother.
“Religion could do no more for my mother than the hope of posthumous success could do for me. Whether you think of it as heavenly or as earthly, if you love life immortality is no consolation for death.”
“She got rid of the ready-made notions that hid her sincere and lovable side. It was then that I get the warmth of an affection that had often been distorted by jealousy and that she expressed so badly. In her papers I have found touching evidence of it. She had put aside two letters, the one written by a Jesuit and the other by a friend; they both assured her that one day I should come back to God.”
Didn’t expect to start the year reading about death, but by doing so found some degree of comfort.
“Religion could do no more for my mother than the hope of posthumous success could do for me. Whether you think of it as heavenly or as earthly, if you love life immortality is no consolation for death.”
“She got rid of the ready-made notions that hid her sincere and lovable side. It was then that I get the warmth of an affection that had often been distorted by jealousy and that she expressed so badly. In her papers I have found touching evidence of it. She had put aside two letters, the one written by a Jesuit and the other by a friend; they both assured her that one day I should come back to God.”
Didn’t expect to start the year reading about death, but by doing so found some degree of comfort.